Civilization V

So one of the reasons for the slowdown in posting after last week’s burst is that I’ve picked up Civilization V. I’ve played the heck out of this series since the first one, and noticed a pattern (if you could call it that). The game would introduce new elements with the odd numbered editions, and then perfect them on the even number editions. Civ I was good, II was similar and great. Civ III was…um, IV was similar but great.

This time, they’ve broken the pattern. They changed up the game again, and made it great on the first try. I think I like it. Mostly.

Like:
Wonders and resources have been de-emphasized. It’s no longer “I must have this or I lose.”
No mega stacks of artillery. No stacking period.
Maneuver actually plays a part in war.
Revamped tech tree vs. benefits. There are no more useless techs that waste time, nor huge advantage swings from getting to a key tech earlier than anyone else.
Cities can defend themselves.
Wonders don’t go obsolescent.
Revamped civics. No more “well, I’ll wait until I can get slavery and …” I forget what the other one was, but I’d always do the first revolt for them.
No freaking revolts to change civics!
Removal of the religions de-emphasizes the early tech race and means more variety.
Easier to make money.
I feel like the victory conditions may be more balanced, but won’t know until I reach a level that’s truly challenging (blowout on Chieftain to learn the game, a bit more trouble on Prince but I’m winning handily.)
Fight animations.
Not having to deal with building/marshaling transport craft.

Don’t like:
Steam.
That damn movie! It’s pointless to hack the .ini to bypass it, because it takes the game forever to load anyway.
Did I mention that it takes the game forever to load?
Steam.
I think there’s some cruft accumulation…the ability of the system to keep from getting bogged down seems to be related to the number of times I reload from saves.
Steam.
Lack of world design options. There’s Continents, Archipelago, and not much else. I hope player mods come out soon.
Steam.
Steam.
STEAM.

So there you have it! Civ V is a great game, with one crappy flaw that would have resulted in my not buying it had I noticed it.

Did I mention that I HATE Steam? A DRM that forces me to log on to their servers to play a game on MY computer?